And the Winner is . . .

Last week, my son and I went to a summer league NBA game. If you follow professional basketball, you know what I mean. If you don’t, these are the summer games where they put new players into real-game situations to assess their skills. The players get a chance to show their abilities so that if the team that drafted them doesn’t keep them, maybe another team will pick them up.

We took my five-year-old grandson. It was his birthday, and he was enthused to go…until we were on our way there. Then he wanted to go home. We talked him into staying. Okay, we bribed him with a Happy Meal. ?

Between quarters and during time outs, the arena staff entertained the crowd by through merchandise into the stands, holding contests, playing music, and making the environment fun. We actually caught one of the team logo items they gave away – but it was a XXL tall pair of shorts that would only fit some large NBA player!

During one break, they held a dance contest, and I encouraged my five-year-old grandson to get up and shake it. He loves to dance, so he was a willing contestant. He was excited to see his dance moves on the huge arena screen. At the end of the break, he again appeared on the jumbotron as the contest winner. Now that’s a birthday gift we couldn’t possibly have anticipated. My son and I were thrilled that the prize was a gift certificate to the team store. We could buy a normal-sized T-shirt for our little dance machine.

The staff brought the gift card to our seats, and Everett was thrilled to hold the symbol of his dance prowess. As we left the arena, we went to the team store, and he picked out a T-shirt. As my son handed the card to the cashier, my grandson protested. He didn’t want to lose the card. So, after the purchase, we got the no-value card back from the cashier. My grandson carried it proudly all the way home. When he walked through the door, he held up the card to his mom and said, “Look! I won!”

Did you catch that? He didn’t carry the T-shirt home. He carried the card home. The T-shirt was a nice-to-have for him, but the card was what he cared about. To him, the card was the reward for his victory.

Have you seen that happen at work too? The boss doles out prizes to employees for great work, but the employee looks at the reward and says, “Gee, thanks,” in a less-than-thankful voice. I heard of one company who made a big deal out of a new quarterly reward for their division. The first person who exerted enough effort to get the reward was blessed with a framed photograph of the division vice president. (You’ll think I’m making this up, but I promise, it’s a true story.)

I get what they’re doing at the arena. They’re giving out generalized rewards. They can’t be specific to every person in the crowd. But when we caught the team gear and found it was an XXL tall pair of shorts, we noticed everyone in the stadium doing the same thing we did – hold them up to see how huge they were while thinking, “What on earth will I do with these?” Local thrift shop employees will probably wonder why a bunch of giant basketball shorts were all donated in the same week. That reward wasn’t rewarding to anyone.

On the other hand, the team store gift card seemed like a great reward to me and my son. But my grandson would have been happy with a laminated card that said, “Dance Contest Winner.” He didn’t need the T-shirt, just the card.

My point is this: don’t think you can reward employees the same and get the same reaction. And don’t think you can dole out any old thing and employees will find it rewarding. Know your people. Know what’s important to them. Reward them accordingly. Don’t spend a bunch of money on rewards that are meaningless to people. Please don’t misinterpret that as me saying, “Don’t reward your employees.” Give people the recognition they are due. But do it in a way that the individual cares about. Make your rewards feel rewarding.

If you try a one-size-fits all approach to rewards, you could be giving a pair of XXL shorts to a five-year-old when a simple plastic card would mean more.

Mark Carpenter helps people who want to improve the impact of their messages by improving their ability to convey powerful experiences as stories. He is a consultant, facilitator, coach, and co-author of the best-selling book "Master Storytelling: How to Turn Your Experiences Into Stories that Teach, Lead, and Inspire." www.master-storytelling.com